Cover Image: Killer whale spyhopping in the Strait of Georgia Val Watson, Vancouver Island, BC There are about 80 species of Cetaceans world-wide (whales, dolphins, & porpoises) and the sense of sight varies with some species having better eyesight than others. To navigate underwater, many Cetaceans use their sense of hearing in combination with their…
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Cover Image: Transient Biggs Orca heading North past Gibsons Beach Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Whales spend the majority of their time below the surface of the water. Some whales travel in one general direction and have predictable surface patterns. However, some whales travel in different directions while underwater and are difficult to track and…
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Cover Image: Bigg’s heading towards Beazley Passage Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures Orca tend to stay with their families and travel with them; this social organization is observed in Resident Orca and Transient Orca. The oldest female is the leader of the pod, and the pod would include her offspring and potentially her “grand-children” as…
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Cover Image: Humpbacks – Mammoth & Split – showing off their flukes! Natalie Reichenbacher, Vancouver Island Whale Watch Have you become more accumstomed to the presence of Humpback whales in our local waters? Any behaviours or patterns of Humpbacks that you have noticed? One pattern you may have observed is when a Humpback goes for…
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Cover Image: Bigg’s heading towards Viner Point Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures A distinguishing feature of Orca are their dorsal fins. A sighting of dorsal fins would be sign that Orca are present (or possibly another Cetacean). Male Orca have dorsal fins that can be up to 2-meters tall and are significantly taller than dorsal…
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Cover Image: Humpback getting up close and personal Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Whales do have hair but very little of it! Whales are mammals and were once land animals over 50 million years ago. Similar to other land mammals past and present, they had fur and hair. However when they…
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Cover Image: Humpbacks by Mitlenatch Island, Georgia Strait Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures A Humpback whale breaching often will catch you off-guard. On a recent trip, I was able to see on seperate occasions Humpback whales breaching and it occurred unexpectedly. It was nonetheless exhiliarating to see and amazing to witness the size of the…
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Cover Image: Pacific White-Sided Dolphins in Homfray Channel Josh Grin, Discovery West Adventures Pacific White-Sided dolphins are fast swimmers and they can reach speeds of approximately 40 km/h. Often when they are swimming fast and travelling in a certain direction, these dolphins will leap clear out of the water horizontally as in our cover image.…
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Cover Image: Humpbacks by south of Penn Islands, Sutil Channel Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures Humpback whales continue to make their presence known in many inland waterways as they perform various behaviours, including breaching, spy-hopping (as in our cover image), pectoral slapping, and tail slapping. These may be ways the whales play but they also…
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Cover Image: Bigg’s basking in the sunlight off of Grief Point Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Whales may spyhop, a behaviour where the whale will swim to the surface vertically and raise their head out of the water to allow them to see (or “spy”) on the surrounding. Our cover image shows an Orca that…
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Cover Image: Transient Biggs Orca – the T18s and T19B – making their way along the Denham Bay Shoreline Nick Templeman, Campbell River Whale and Bear Excursions Many Transient Orca were observed; these Orca eat other mammals such as porpoises, dolphins, seals, and sea lions. There were no sightings of Resident Orca reported to us;…
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Cover Image: Humpbacks and Dolphins milling about together Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures On at least two different occasions, Pacific White-Sided Dolphins were observed in close proximity to Humpback whales. Instead of being a friendly encounter, the dolphins appear to swarm and annoy the whale (similar to us when we are out at a park…
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Cover Image: Pacific White Sided Dolphins putting on a show! Stuart Clark, Eagle Eye Adventures Pacific White-Sided Dolphins were observed in a few waterways, and they were very active at the surface making leaps out of the water and bow-riding at another location. These dolphins swim very fast and can easily keep pace with a…
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Cover Image: Pacific White Sided Dolphins off of Mink Island Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures Although the most sightings reported are still Humpback Whales, Pacific White Sided Dolphins took center stage for a while in Discovery Passage in particular. These animals are the acrobats of our oceans and have been know to leap as high…
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Cover Image: Humpbacks breaching in Sutil Channel Stuart Clark, Eagle Eye Adventures In this first catch-up report, Humpback Whales are still showing off with their impressive breaching all throughout our inside waters. The most asked question is ‘why do Humpbacks breach’? The truth is that we can only guess at the reasons. Thoughts are so…
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Cover Image: Humpback breaching near Grant Reef Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures Many Humpback whales were sighted in Calm Channel, Sutil Channel, Discovery Passage, and upper Georgia Strait. The Humpbacks were displaying various behaviours including breaching, pectoral slapping, and swimming against the tide. One can only be in awe as a Humpback whale breaches with…
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Cover Image: Humpbacks putting on a show! Reuben Buerge, Eagle Eye Adventures A number of Humpback whales were breaching and they can be seen even from a few kilometers away. Other surface behaviours of Humpbacks include pectoral slaps, tail slaps, and lunge-feeding. When lunge-feeding, Humpbacks rapidly approach prey and engulf their prey as the whales…
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Cover Image: Pacific White Sided Dolphins jumping like popcorn off of Denham Islet Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Many pods of Pacific White-Sided dolphins were observed, of which the largest pod was estimated to have around 200 dolphins. These dolphins are very playful and can leap out of the water reaching…
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Cover Image: Pacific White Sided Dolpins having fun Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures Pacific White-Sided dolphins are abundant here in British Columbia and they can be easily recognized by their grey to dark grey body colour with distinct lighter sides. They have a short rostrum (beak) and a noticeably curved dorsal fin. Pacific White-Sided dolphins…
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Cover Image: Humpback showing off its fin to a boat of whale watchers Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Humpback whales are intelligent and they can be playful as well as active near the surface of the water. Humpback whales have pectoral fins that can be up to 16-feet long (5-meters). Humpbacks…
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Cover Image: Transient Biggs Orca breaching with a strand of kelp Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures Transient Orca were observed in various inland waterways. Orca display many behaviours at the surface including breaching. The cover image shows the belly side of an Orca as it was breaching. The Orca also has a strand of kelp…
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Cover Image: Biggs transient orca spotted breaching Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures Continuing on the same theme as with previous issues, Orca display various behaviours some of which are considered playful and other behaviours that can be described as curiosity. Playful behaviours can include breaches, pectoral slaps, and tail slaps. Behaviours that display curiosity include…
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Cover Image: Pacific white-sided dolphins milling at Hall Point, Sonara Island. Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Many pods of Pacific White-Sided dolphins were observed, a number of them being in Nodales Channel and around Frederick Arm. These dolphins are the most abundant dolphin here in B.C. waters evidenced by pods each…
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Cover Image: Humpbacks approached whale watching tours, the boats involved were respectful and raised their motors until the whales moved on. Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures With so many Humpback whales in upper Georgia Strait and various inland waterways that are being reported by a number of observers, it is difficult to determine the exact…
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Cover Image: Humpback breaching off of Viner Point Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Many Humpback whales were observed in various inland waterways. Humpback whales were in groups of 2 or 3 in most cases, but some groups were larger with up to 8 members. Many Humpbacks were breaching and doing pectoral…
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Cover Image: Humpback surprises whale watching tour. Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures As we celebrate Canada Day this coming week, it is truly remarkable for us to live here in this country with so much natural beauty around us to enjoy. From the mild climate to the towering mountains to the diversity of plants and…
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Cover Image: Humpback heading south near Hidden Harbour Stan Novotny, Eagle Eye Adventures During the past week, many Humpback whales were observed in upper Georgia Strait and in a number of inland waterways. Many Humpbacks were paired up but only a few were reported as mother-calf pairs. Some larger groups included up to 7 Humpback…
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Cover Image: T046s with white baby orca T46B1B feeding on a porpoise. Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures June is Orca Awareness Month. Here in British Columbia, we are lucky to have 3 ecotypes of Orca: Residents, Transients, and Offshore. Of interest lately is a young Transient Orca that is white coloured and a member of…
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Cover Image: Humpback showing of its tail near Manson Passage Kurt Staples, Eagle Eye Adventures Watching whales in the wild is awe-inspiring, especially when whales perform unique behaviours such as breaching and lunge-feeding. When the whale’s tail is raised out of the water, it means the whale is diving and will be under water for…
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Cover Image: Pacific white-sided dolphins at McMullen Point. Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours As more whale species work their way into our inside waters between Vancouver Island and the Mainland, every year we notice a few changes. This year many of the Humpback Whales, still working their way into Georgia Strait,…
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